Google+ is gaining influence

Sunday

Feb 16, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By Joyce Lain Kennedy

Q: Google+ is now twice the size of LinkedIn (540 million vs. 259 million) and half the size of Facebook (1.1 billion). Established in 2011, Google+ is already the second largest social network in the world.

Despite impressive numbers and rankings, job seekers and recruiters aren't using Google+ much yet, but because it is part of Google, the social networking site offers great visibility by providing opportunity on the "Profile's About" page for job seekers to describe their experience, accomplishments and qualifications.

The Google+ Profile is available to anyone using Google.

In an era when most employers research job seekers online, frequently using Google, the importance of a Google+ Profile cannot be overestimated. In addition to your LinkedIn Profile, your Google+ Profile helps establish your credibility as someone who is at ease in the current business world. — Susan P. Joyce, publisher, Job-Hunt.org and WorkCoachCafe.com.

A: Many thanks for the wake-up call. You're so right about the reminder to play catch-up on this valuable free job search tool. Readers, get helpful Google+ details on job-hunt.org.

Q: I graduated from a small Midwestern college in 2013 and haven't been able to find a good job I want, but I did take one that pays barely enough to cover my student-loan payments. What's the best thing for others like me to do at this point? — L.T.

A: Ask 100 people that question and you'll get 100 different answers, all circling around encouragement to never give up on finding the right career landing.

Many common answers include haunting your school's career center, cleaning up your online files and hanging out at social networking websites. All are productive ideas but usually offered in data-free formats. You can fill in that blank space.

Think of your career challenge as a self-selected research report requiring you to root around online and in person with human contacts to see what you've missed, and how others with your background have solved your problem. Here are five quick suggestions to get your ball rolling:

•"Tales from Ohio State: How the Class of '08 Found Jobs" by Melissa Korn at the Wall Street Journal. This way-back look reveals a number of interesting moves and how they worked out, both good and not so good.

•Search for "job advice for new college grads" — you'll find both diamonds and paste.

•Draw facts from the gigantic databases maintained by the federal Department of Labor; start exploring with the extremely useful Occupational Outlook Handbook at bls.gov.

•Read career-oriented self-help books, such as the new and glamorous "Work Smarts: What CEOs Say You Need to Know to Get Ahead" by Bloomberg TV anchor Betty Liu" (Wiley).

•Remember that advice in general comes with no guarantees. Find a new zinger appraisal of advice by someone who gives advice in "A Word of Advice ... on Advice" by Joe Queenan.

Your situation reminds me of a popular sign found on many career counselors' walls: "If you don't know where you're going, you might end up somewhere else."

Q: I just heard that the governor of Tennessee has proposed that his state pay the tuition and fees of all his state's high school graduates who want to attend a community or technical college for two years. Is this idea trending? — R.W.

A: A couple of other states are thinking about the same thing — Oregon and Mississippi. The clearest discussion, including comments, was the one I found on the topic "Free Community College? Tennessee Proposal Draws Praise and Concerns" by Eric Kelderman at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Tennessee Gov. William Haslam's plan would use state lottery reserves to create an endowment to pay for the program, assuming it's approved by the state's General Assembly.